ING Renault F1 Racing Newswire

Pirelli tyres have helped privateer Martin Prokop to claim his best-ever result on Rally Finland, which was the fastest-ever event in World Rally Championship history this year, with the winner completing the 20 gravel stages at an average speed of 125.44kph. Prokop, from the Czech Republic, finished seventh: one of two privateer Pirelli-equipped cars in the points, capable of scoring against the factory teams.
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With Renault on the verge of returning to F1 as a works team, Cyril Abiteboul has confirmed they could implement a young driver programme. In recent years Red Bull's young driver programme has been very successful as demonstrated by the result of the Hungarian GP.
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Renault plans to resurrect a young driver programme as part of a shake-up of its involvement in Formula 1 and junior categories. The French car company is on the verge of finalising its future in F1, as discussions continue about its plans for 2017 and beyond that could involve it buying out the Lotus team.
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The names of the teams competing in the second season of the FIA Formula E Championship have been confirmed, and there are some changes. The inaugural teams' champion e.dams-Renault will now be known as Renault e.Dams in deference to the French marque's status as an official manufacturer in the all-electric race series , Citroen's upscale brand DS has linked up with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Racing team , while German group Schaeffler has joined ABT Audi.
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Despite two slightly off-colour rounds following his streak of four feature race wins, history says no-one can beat Stoffel Vandoorne to the GP2 crown, says Valentin Khorounzhiy. Allow me to preface this column by noting that what's written here could be undone with a couple of feature race engine failures or a couple of first-lap crashes, although given the subject's campaign thus far, a shock mid-season F1 call-up almost seems a likelier possibility for any kind disruption.
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Roger Benoit, the veteran correspondent for the Swiss newspaper Blick, says that if Ferrari simply wants to retain the Finn by extending his deal, it must decide to do so before July 31 -- Friday. But team boss Maurizio Arrivabene says Ferrari will in fact not be thinking at all about the "driver issue" throughout the summer break.
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Jul.29 Ferrari looks set to allow the 2016 'option' in Kimi Raikkonen's current contract to lapse. Roger Benoit, the veteran correspondent for the Swiss newspaper Blick, says that if Ferrari simply wants to retain the Finn by extending his deal, it must decide to do so before July 31 - Friday.
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His Lotus teammate, Pastor Maldanado, was 14th after two drive through penalties and a ten-second addition to his time. The race was the first since the death of Jules Bianchi, who died on July 17 from brain injuries suffered in a crash at last year's Japanese GP while racing for former Banbury team Marussia.
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Not only did F1 champ Lewis Hamilton fail to podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, he ended up amassing 2 drive-through penalty points against his F! license after going wide and damaging Daniel Ricciardo 's car on the restart of the race on lap 49, when the Infinity/Red Bull moved to charge around the outside at Turn 1. Athough Hamilton recovered from the accident, he was unable to finish higher than 6th. Still he came under the flag 2 spots ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg, extending his lead over him in the race for the championship again this year.
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"Nico crossed over my line there." From Lewis Hamilton's optimistic protestations to Daniil Kvyat's surprise character assassination of Marcus Ericsson, and from Romain Grosjean's gripes with Max Verstappen to Sergio Perez's breathless response to barrel rolling his car, we review the best sound bites from a truly pulsating weekend in Budapest... Relief all round as a breathless Sergio Perez gives his team the thumbs up following his gnarly barrel roll during FP1.
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Corriere dello Sport, however, stands by its earlier report that Ferrari's contract buyout deal with Williams to secure Valtteri Bottas' services is already done. "I think I will hide for a while in the Finnish forests," he smiled after another weekend of high speculation in Hungary.
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World Champion Lewis Hamilton was one of five drivers to fall foul of the stewards and receive penalty points in Hungary on Sunday. Hamilton, who by his own accounts had a terrible race, received two penalty points for the part he played in a collision with the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.
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What would Formula Renault be without Renault ? Competitors in the series are about to find out. Because according to Autosport , the French manufacturer is withdrawing support from the key feeder series.
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During a thrilling, incident filled, Hungarian Grand Prix, a number of driver were also busy racking up the penalty points. First off was Romain Grosjean , who, along with a 5s time penalty, was handed 2 penalty points after being released from his pit stop in an unsafe manner.
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The haul of points was more than double what McLaren, whose new partnership with Honda has made a troubled start, had managed in their previous nine outings. Fernando Alonso welcomed a surprise present of points on Sunday as McLaren's Hungarian Grand Prix went from woe to wonder in the space of a day.
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The team's worst race of the season. Hamilton started on pole but then had a nightmare, a poor start and errors dropping him out of the points before he recovered to extend his lead to 21 points.
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Budapest: Nico Hulkenberg suffered a terrible crash while Sergio Perez also retired mid-way, as Sahara Force India returned empty-handed from the dramatic Hungarian Grand Prix, here on Sunday. The no-points show meant that the Indian Formula One team could not add to 39 points in its kitty but they remained in the fifth position.
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Although Fernando Alonso admits that he has been racing in McLaren Hondas since since he began karting at the age of 3, the idea of sitting behind the wheel of one has lost its luster for him.. Not only has the 33-year old Spaniard not won a GP since 2013, he has been struggling to just compete this year after leaving Ferrari to return to the team.
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